Google Adwords. Someone please explain.
 

Ok, I haven't used adwords since around 2001. I decided to go check it out and I see that they are now charging you only for click-thrus? Is this correct? When I first joined you paid per impression and $1000 bucks could go by in 10 minutes. Also, you are only getting charged per click thru what is the stress on CTR so much for?

Thanks for any help. I can't read anymore. Been up way too long.

Adwords is a big pain in the ass. Use Overture.

You set your keywords, the you set your maximum bid per keyword, then Google tells you how much they estimate you would spend per 24 hours period, the you decide your daily spending limit. You also decide the geographical areas that will be able to see your ad. In some instance Google may drop your keywords if they do not have a high enough click through ratio.

Google stresses their minimum 0.5% CTR ratio in order to keep listings relevant. If your fall below this ratio, your listings are removed and you are asked to change the ad copy until you can achieve this ratio. Secondly, your CTR ratio in combination with the max per click rate you set will determine where you rank among the competition. This model makes it different than Overture's model and since Overture's model is patented, a way for Google to not have to pay Overture (pending a lawsuit going on right now...). An interesting approach in my opinion, but I believe the 0.5% CTR is too high since these listings are rather small and shoved into the right side of the screen. I don't like Google for that since its too annoying if some listings go offline in the middle of a campaign because of the CTR ratio.

WG

That is absolutely true, it would be better if that was lowered to 0.1 or 0.2, but in our case, we run the same campaign all year long and use over 1500 keywords, so it does not hurt our campaign when a few keywords or keyphrases get dropped

"all year long and use over 1500 keywords"

Damn! What type of bill do you ring up each month from that many words day in and day out??

The bill is nowhere near the reward. :)